With final roster cuts coming on Saturday and other personnel decisions likely due by next week, Thursday's preseason finale of games may have provided a number of NFL coaches with all they needed to see before the regular season begins on September 4.
Zac Stacy took over the running back position for the St. Louis Rams in Week 3 last year and rushed for 973 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie. He still remains atop the Rams' depth chart, but his workload might be threatened with the presence of backup Benny Cunningham. Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that Stacy's starting position isn't in danger, but Cunningham has been the team's best back during the preseason and could take some carries away from Stacy. Additionally, rookie Trey Watts has rushed for 106 yards on 25 carries (4.2 ypc) this preseason, which will likely help his stock.
In Cincinnati, the team has its starter in Giovani Bernard, who broke out last year after splitting carries with BenJarvus Green-Ellis. Bernard rushed for 695 yards with five touchdowns and had 56 receptions for 514 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie. But Hue Jackson has liked what rookie Jeremy Hill has been doing in training camp and he's received the most touches on the team during the preseason (41 carries for 190 yards). If the team releases Green-Ellis by Saturday, Hill could begin competing for the starting job with Bernard for the remainder of the season.
"Jeremy has to understand what it's like to be an NFL running back," said head coach Marvin Lewis after Thursday's final preseason game against the Colts. "We aren't five deep. When we get to Sundays and we go down to 46 guys, and if he's going to be the guy, then he's going to have to be able to shoulder the load."
The Miami Dolphins face a similar issue. The team has Lamar Miller as the starting running back with Knowshon Moreno and Daniel Thomas behind him. The team just signed Moreno in the offseason (who is listed as the backup) and has seen essentially no improvement from Thomas in his first three seasons with the team. Thomas could be the odd man out as Adam H. Beasley of the Miami Herald says that rookie Damien Williams out of Oklahoma could be of greater value to the team because of his ability to return kicks (three returns for 82 yards). He also received the most touches in the preseason with 27, but only rushed for 69 yards. Thomas didn't help his case by carrying the ball 13 times for just 38 yards though.
The final roster cuts are coming this Saturday at 4 p.m., so keep an eye out to see what your team decides to do.
